Customer Reviews

Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Based on exhaustive research and much new information and filled with period detail, this book is a fascinating portrait of Martha Washington, her two husbands, her epileptic daughter and feckless son, her grandchildren, slaves, her part-African half-sister, her plantation homes, the winter camps of the Revolution and the first presidential mansions. At the same time it traces many of the complex social, political, and economic developments of the earliest years of Virginia Colony, from Jamestown until the revolution and beyond, highlighting the issues of slavery, trade with the British mother country and plantation life in the New World and links them with the growing political tensions which arose with the Stamp Acts and, eventually, the American Revolution. It provides superb insights into a turbulent period of American history, when thirteen English colonies in North America severed themselves from control by the English king and parliament and began the laborious process of establishing a new form of republican government with no precedents to guide them.

Bryan wears her scholarship lightly, however, cleverly weaving Martha's personal story through the issues and events of the times, quoting from letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts of the period as well as from the memoirs of Martha's Custis grandchildren, little-known anecdotes, and oral traditions. She examines the partnership of George and Martha Washington, America's first "power couple," making the interesting point that had Washington not married the widowed Martha Custis, he might never have become the leading military and political figure of his age. It highlights Martha's little-known contributions to the war effort which made her enormously popular with the long-suffering, ragged, and hungry soldiers of the Continental army, who cheered her as "Lady Washington" and called her a "gallant trooper".

It also examines Martha's invaluable role as the Nation's first official hostess, and the dilemmas she faced in the early days of George's presidency over how to give the two adored grandchildren she was raising a normal life in the presidential mansion and how the wife of the head of the new republic ought to dress, entertain, or receive visitors in a manner which conveyed the dignity of the fledgling country she represented yet which avoided the appearance of behaving in "queenly fashion".

Martha's unflagging support for her husband and her success in public life reflected well on him, and it is interesting that so important a role as Martha played at Washington's side has received so little public recognition. In keeping with one of the discrete obituaries written when Martha died two and a half years after George, Martha Washington has been forgotten in "the silence of respectful grief." Bryan's book, published to mark the 200th anniversary of Martha's death, finally sets the record straight.

This book was a wonderful insight into America's "first" First Lady. Not only did the book delve into Martha's life, it painted a picture of the times in which she lived. I learned more about the period and slavery than I thought I would ~ very well written. My favorite part was learning more about her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. Background is everything and most biographies lack it ~ this book doesn't. Read it and learn.

"First Lady of Liberty" is a well-documented, yet easily readable, account of the life of Martha Washington and the cataclysmic times in which she lived. Martha emerges as a complex character, not just the one dimensional figure about which most Americans learn in school. Privately preferring a life at home with her extended family,she becomes an active participant in George Washington's military and political career, doing much to ensure his success.

Bryan's extensive research reads lightly. There is a wealth of new material about each of her husbands, her little known half-sister who was part-African, part-Cherokee, Martha's views on slave owning, and indiviual stories and dramas involving many of the people to whom she was closest. (Look, for example, for the mystery of Mulatto Jack and the story of the Dunbar suit.)

Readers of biography, American history, Black history, feminist history, and those who enjoy a good read will all come away fulfilled from reading this book.

I never realized what a central figure Martha Washington was in our country's history until I read this book. The author, Helen Bryan, does a superb job of uncovering Martha Washington's complex and intelligent character, in a fresh perspective and voice. Anyone interested in colonial life, women's studies, the American Revolution, or just an entertaining read, should pick up this book.

Ms. Bryan does for Martha Washington what David McCullogh did for John Adams. This compelling and thoroughly researched account brings Mrs. Washington to life and paints the social forces in operation during her time. It is only once we understand the context in which important historical figures exist that we can understand those figures as people.

This is a fascinating view of a woman who has been stereotyped throughout history as a grandmotherly type, comfortable and full of fluff as as a pillow, when in actuality Martha Washington was a far more complex, interesting,and strong, person than we have been led to believe. This book has been well researched and gives a good account of what it was like to have lived in this time period. I teach at an all girls' school and we are considering it for summer reading. We are interested in our students studying about powerful, strong , dynamic women. Helen Bryan's book certainly gives us a new and richer perspective on an old icon of American history.

As I write this review, I cannnot help but note that all previous reviews are sharply divided. To my mind, the really negative reviews border on the malicious. There are flaws in any book, but count me among those who praise this work as well written history ..... detailed, clear and nourishing. I can see some basis for objection to certain statements by the author regarding slavery .... it could be called "correct" in a sense .... but most of it is well researched and quite persuasive to my way of thinking. There seems to be no balance in the negative reviews, they wish to cast this work ... and its author ..... into outer darkness. The, perhaps, unfortunate remark that George Washington was something of a "good old boy," when he was a younger man, has been magnified out of all proportion and is a trivial element in a substantial effort. I respect the author's scholarship and style. I learned a lot from this book and I recommend it without reservation.

I really enjoyed this book as it takes Martha Washington past "some old white wigged lady in a portrait" to a real person. May not be for everyone but as a History buff I thought the ambivalent attitude of slaveholders as it reflected on the "Mother of Our Country" was interesting. Martha Washington has always been such a one dimensional character that finding the human and less than iconic side of her personality was interesting.

I have read thousands of pages of biography related to the Revolutionary War but only recently began reading about the ladies of that period beginning with "Founding Mothers". I purchased this book at Mt. Vernon during our recent visit there thinking at the time that I may never even read it. After all, I like most people think of Martha Washington as similar to Mrs. Claus: short, chubby, and interesting only because of whom she was married to. WELL, once I started reading this book it was extremely difficult to put it down. It's a page-turner. It has details that I'd never read before. It makes the reader feel as tho he/she is living during that time and feeling what they felt and seeing what they saw. I love it. Former reviewers mentioned the "Good Ole Boy" phrase used about George Washington and they clearly don't understand what the phrase really means. It does not mean country bumpkin. It more likely means a man who is well-known in his circle, from a prominent family, who knows others from other prominent families and they all have their way of doing things and want it to stay that way. I highly recommend this book and believe it could be used as required reading in college and it is long enough and great enough to be well worth paying full price! Keller

I purchased the Kindle version of this book wanting to learn about Martha Washington. It was a special treat to myself and cost more than I swore I'd ever spend on a Kindle book ($16.50). Granted, I haven't finished the book, but so far I've read the Preface (2% of the book) that told me a few facts about the older Martha Washington and then told me endless facts about the founding of Jamestown,the slave trade and treatment of slaves. We then moved to the Introduction (another 2% of the book) where I learned that little is known about the early life of Martha Washington and then goes on to talk about mulatto slaves for pages and pages and pages and pages. Chapter 1 (3% of the book), we learn about Martha Washington's grandparent's and parent's and then more about mulatto slaves. The same phrases are repeated word for word in these sections over and over. I've just started "next paging" until I see the words Martha Washington and then I stop and read. As far as the Kindle version is concerned there are sections/sentences/paragraphs missing from the text. At one point I was reading about Martha Washington's Father's Brother and how he worked for a man named John Thornton and in the middle of the sentence it picked up with Thornton dying. I also learned about her Uncle's will. I don't know, I'm really hoping this book gets better. I'll give it another try tonight, but if refunds/returns were available on Kindle, I'd be right there with this book.